Chelsea have a tough 30 days ahead of them. They will have to play Barcelona twice, Manchester United and leaders Manchester City in what could be the most decisive month of the whole season for the Blues. Morale should be good as they won their last match and have a fairly easy game against Hull in the FA Cup. It’s hard to tell how Conte will approach this game though as the FA Cup will have a hard time making it to top of the club’s priorities. Technically, it goes like this: Premier League, Champions League, other domestic competitions.
With that in mind, he might want to keep some players who suffered minor injuries on the bench. Currently there are 2 in this situation out of a total of 5 injured:
Marcos Alonso – Ankle Injury – out for just over a week, the Spaniard is unlikely to play. He has the 20th of February set as his return date which is exactly the day of the Barcelona game. There might be a chance of seeing him play some minutes against Hull just to get his groove back.
Olivier Giroud – Calf Injury – while he was rumored to be available on game day, the Frenchman might not want to push it. It would be crazy to lose him for the rest of the season after just signing him from Arsenal.
Tiemoue Bakayoko – Unknown Injury – the Frenchman suffered a knock but unfortunately his return date is not known. He is unlikely to feature against Hull
Ross Barkley – Hamstring Injury – picked up the injury in the beginning of the month and is expected to return in March.
David Luiz – Knock – this is Luiz’s 7th injury in the past 12 months. His return date is unknown. Hopefully he will be available for the Barcelona games as his experience is something that could come in useful.
Hull City seem to have their main 11 available. Despite that, their form and current Championship situation under new manager Nigel Adkins suggest they will not be of too much trouble for the Blues who should have an easy match.